PRAYING YOUR DESIRES INTO REALITY
Mark 11:12 “And on the morrow, when they were come from
Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if
haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing
but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of
thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the
temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold
doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel
through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house
shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den
of thieves.
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought
how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was
astonished at his doctrine.
19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig
tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master,
behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto
this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall
come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against
any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which
is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Prayer is the integral part of the Christian fellow that
sustains his existence on earth, in total reliance on the power of GOD Almighty
to keep him throughout his missionary and pilgrimage journey on the earth.
Prayer is the food that nourishes the Christian which bring about his spiritual
maturity and growth in exercising the divine nature and ability of GOD in the
realm of the spirit. Without prayers, no true Christian and follower of JESUS
CHRIST will succeed nor prevail over the forces of darkness in this wicked
world Matthew 26:41. Hence the Bible says “For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war after the flesh: (For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” 1 Corinthians 10:3-6.
As the physical body cannot live nor survived without
physical food, so the spirit of the true Christian cannot live nor survive
without prayer which is the spiritual food that propels his growth with
studying the word. 1 Peter 2:2 “As
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” Therefore when you cultivate the acts of
prayers, you will discover that nothing is actually impossible before you
because prayer is faith Matthew 21:21. Faith is believing that all your
petition presented to GOD in prayers will be given answers when they are prayed
aright without vain repetition nor asking amiss Hebrews 11:1. James 4:2 “Ye
lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight
and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
The earthly ministry of JESUS CHRIST was hugely successful
as it was built around prayers. Before embarking on His earthly ministry when
He came in the flesh, He underwent a forty (40) days of fasting and prayers
which helped Him to overcome the temptations that Satan presented to Him just
shortly after the conclusion of that spiritual exercise Matthew 4:1-11. The
Bible likewise gave account of JESUS CHRIST rising up a great while before the
day’s activities to soak Himself into prayers so that His ministration for each
day would record successes, and to the glory of GOD, His ministry was
successfully run when He was on earth because he never neglected the place prayers.
Mark 1:35 “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out,
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Prayer is NOT an automatic ability in the Christian life. It
is a habit that thrives effectively when developed and given proper attention
without any divided approach or mind-set. This is the reason that the disciples
of JESUS CHRIST were all prayerless fellow when they were appointed by the LORD
JESUS to be His followers. One day, they confronted their Master that there was
something amiss in their lives because they saw the disciples of john the Baptist
praying, a thing that they themselves don’t know nor do as disciples of the
LORD himself, hence they asked their master “Lord, teach us to pray, as John
also taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1. This then led JESUS to teach them ‘how’
to pray. Matthew 6:9 “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art
in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, for ever. Amen.”
You must be taught how to pray as a new convert to
Christianity because GOD only hears one form of prayer – a prayer prayed out of
a ‘pure heart’ 2 Timothy 2:22. We must not confuse ourselves with all kinds of
prayers prayed today in the church by all kinds of people with dangerous
attitudes and behavioural lifestyles to guess that GOD is hearing all of such
prayers as prayed. No, GOD is a holy GOD 1 Peter 1:16, and He can only hear and
identify with the prayers of holy believers because the prayers of saints (holy
brethren) are delight unto GOD, why the sacrifice of sinners are abomination to
the LORD. Proverbs 15:8 “The sacrifice (prayers) of the wicked is an
abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” In fact, as holy and righteous believers lift
up their voices to GOD in prayers around the world, it usually ascends into
heaven as incense. Psalms 141:2 “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”
If there was anybody that needed not to pray, it was JESUS
CHRIST because He is GOD John 1:1. But despite being GOD who was in human flesh
in the world, he prayed unto Him that was able to save Him. His last moments on
earth were dedicated to prayers hence He was able to bear all the wickedness of
man against Him the moment He was arrested shortly after intensed prayers to
GOD. This teaches us that despite our commitment to prayers, oppositions will
still mount on our way but one thing is certain; victory is sure if we ‘faint
not’ Galatians 6:9. Are you ready to pray? There is a GOD that heareth and
answereth prayers. Hebrews 5:5 “So also Christ glorified not himself to be made
an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I
begotten thee. 6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec. 7 WHO IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH, WHEN HE HAD OFFERED
UP PRAYERS AND SUPPLICATIONS WITH STRONG CRYING AND TEARS UNTO HIM THAT WAS
ABLE TO SAVE HIM FROM DEATH, AND WAS HEARD IN THAT HE FEARED; 8 Though he were
a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being
made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.”
From the foregoing therefore, there are lots of supposed
Christians today, though some are praying amiss and others using vain
repetitions which often stalls their prayers, some however are merely ‘wishing’
and never praying. Wish is not prayer. You have to pray your desire into
reality hence the word ‘PUSH’ that is often used to mean prayer – Pray until
something happen. Brethren, a woman at travail in the cause of delivering her
unborn child must PUSH until the baby is delivered. Why then does it appear
extremely difficult that at the verge of joy and happiness, intense pains,
discomfort and groanings always precede? It is because nothing good comes easy.
It is because the darkest part of the night is towards the dawn. It is because
no pain, no gain. When you therefore desire anything in this life to be
accomplish as a Christian, win and receive the crown at the place of prayer.
Hence it is often said, ‘a prayerless Christian is a POWERLESS Christian’,
while ‘a PRAYERFUL Christian is a powerful Christian’, and this is nothing but
the truth.
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.”
Because prayers are not automatic in the Christian faith as
we have to learn how to pray, as you grow in the things of the LORD, the HOLY
SPIRIT will also become your teacher both in ministry and in prayers. This
often is the outcome of the intercessory prayer points and requests you do
present as the HOLY SPIRIT lays them in your heart. When JESUS said we should
not think on what to say when we are brought before the council, He was
teaching us that the HOLY SPIRIT will put the word to say in our mouths at the appropriate
time when we have developed that strong bond, relationship and fellowship with
Him (HOLY SPIRIT). Matthew 10:19 “But when they deliver you up, take no thought
how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye
shall speak.”
Prayer is the master key to unlock every locked situations
and things in the spiritual realm and bringing them to physical manifestation. The
intensity and consistency of Daniel in prayer saw him getting his desires delivered
to him after it has been withheld by demonic forces in the realm of the spirit
for twenty one days Daniel 10:10-14. The warfare that the true Christian is
involved in the spiritual realm has prayers as ‘THE SHIELD OF FAITH that QUENCH
ALL THE FIERY DARTS OF THE WICKED’ Ephesians 6:16. We do sing this song:
Prayer is the
key
Prayer is the
key
Prayer is the
master key
JESUS started
with prayer and ended with prayer
Prayer is the
master key
If you therefore know the efficacy of the power of true and
sincere believers in prayers, you will never joke with prayers in your
Christian ministry. We must however understand that apart from vain repetition
and asking amiss that stalls our prayers from being answered by GOD, we must
equally know that putting people and holding them up in our mind without
forgiving their trespass against us is the most deadliest prayer killer.
Friend, you must free your mind from all grudge and evil thought if at all your
prayer will be answered by GOD. We must not allow the pain and injury melted to
us by our fellow human being to become the basis of our prayers. Our ability to
forgive others will also propel GOD to forgive us our own sins when we stand in
the place of prayer.
Mark 11:25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have
ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you
your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is
in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Stephen was praying when he was being stoned to death. In
that agonising situation he found himself in the midst of his killers, he still
prayed “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” and shortly after those words,
Stephen died Acts 7:60. Stephen was just following the footsteps of our LORD
and Master, JESUS CHRIST, who has passed that same wicked treatment in the
hands of the same people He abandoned His glory in heaven and come to this
earth in other to save them from their sin. He cried on the cross “Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34. All the apostles of
the LORD died devastating deaths in the hands of their persecutors, but none of
them ever prayed that the ground should open and shallow their enemies, which
is at variance with the saints of today who in their place of prayers bring
their supposed and imagined enemies before the altar of GOD and slay them. Is
this the teaching of JESUS CHRIST in handling our enemies in the place of
prayer? Surely GOD will not hear nor answered such ‘selfish and wicked’ prayer
request. Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you.”
As you cultivate the acts and habits of prayerfulness in
your Christian ministry and work with GOD, may the grace of GOD be made
available unto you, so that we will not damn ourselves in the place of prayers
in JESUS name. Amen.
Moreover, we must equally know that any form of prayer said
and prayed outside JESUS CHRIST is an exercise in futility. No matter how ‘religious’
those forms or types of prayer may appear, they are never made unto the GOD
that created the heaven the heaven and earth. Only the name of JESUS CHRIST every
knees bows to. So if you are praying unto any other thing outside, you are
surely wasting your time and energy for nothing because just as Baal refused to
hear his 450 prophets in 1 Kings 18:19-29, you as well will never be heard when
praying to a dead god. Surrender your life to JESUS CHRIST today and only then
will your prayers become effective and your desires will be accomplish.
Philippians 2:9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.”
Every shackles of prayerlessness in your Christian life and
ministry, I command, break in the name of name of JESUS CHRIST. Become
effective and effectual in your Christian life and ministry in JESUS name.
Amen.
GOD bless you.
Shalom!
